GW-history-msg - 4/19/99

Histories of the SCA Gulf Wars event.

NOTE: See also the files: P-history-msg, P-stories-msg, SCA-hist3-msg,
SCA-Stories-msg, child-stories-msg, Anst-hist-msg, Trim-hist-msg, 
Meridies-hist-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that
I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some
messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called StefanŐs Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at:
http://lg_photo.home.texas.net/florilegium/index.html

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with
seperate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes
extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were
removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the
individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these
messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this
time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give
credit to the orignator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  Lord Stefan li Rous
    RSVE60@email.sps.mot.com              stefan@texas.net
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Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 09:20:49 -0600
To: markh@risc.sps.mot.com (Mark S. Harris)
From: Paul Greene <finnian@flash.net>
Subject: Re: GULF WARS  was Great

>Huh??? What were these "Assault Elephants" and this "siege armadillo"?
>I did not get to watch the battles as I was off doing some blacksmithing
>and other classes.
>-- 
>Ld. Stefan li Rous     Barony of Bryn Gwlad        Ansteorra
>Per pale gules and or, a ram's head caboshed, counterchanged 

  Where to begin..........?  Ok, During the first castle battle on Saturday
morning.  Ansteorra began the battle as defenders of the castle.  When the
marshalls were explaining the particular rules for the engagement, they made
mention of elephants of all things.  Taking a peek around the left side
(ours) confirmed this.  Trimaris had constructed 2 ten foot tall rolling
siege towers to which were affixed cardboard elephant heads and the whole of
which were painted elephant grey.  Atop these wonderous monsrosities were
half a dozen or so archers.  Needless to say, our ballistae crews went
a-hunting elephant.  Much to my delight, one of the elephants even had an
eyepatch and scarred ears ROFL!!!

  When preparing for our assault phase, we were again advised about the
rules concerning battering rams.  Trimaris had this HUGE foam battering ram
that was flesh colored and was nothing more than functional double entendre.
They had to use it more than once as their crew was unprotected and kept
getting killed off. But then Ansteorra wheeled in what could only be
described as a giant armadillo on wheels with a crew of six.  Constructed of
plywood, chainlink fencing, and corrugated plastic sheeting it was.  It was
painted grey and had a rear door and a trapdoor on top which was opened so
that a crewman could pop out and taunt the Trimarians.  It was wheeled up to
the gate and from the prow extruded a cow skull on a pole with a soft pokey
tip.  This they used to "batter" the gate until it was flung wide open.  The
crew then turned the engine sideways in the gate to block it while the
Trimarians promptly began probing for chinks and open hatches with pikes.
Eventually, they were able to get at the crew who took their shots
gracefully and emerged to a great roaring cheer to run back and get some
water.  The whole episode was hilarious!  You really missed some fun. :(

Finnian  


Subject: ANST - Past GW stories -- the start of Gulf War
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 99 13:37:12 MST
From: Amy Forsyth <aforsyth@UH.EDU>
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

Since we're all just sitting around, why don't we rehash some of the past
Gulf Wars?

I was there at the very start of this whole thing....

Lord Blackwolf from Trimaris was visiting Ansteorra to attend school.
Since he was a student, someone put him in contact with me since I was the
acting Hospitaler for the College of Twr Cath.

I got a phone call from him on Thurs. night asking when Their Majesties
would be near Stargate again --- he said he needed to talk to them.
Stargate was holding an event that very weekend (I believe it was Stargate
Baronial)..... it was being held at Jellystone Park near Hempstead, TX ---
and they weren't scheduled to be near the area again for several months.  I
wasn't planning on going, but I ended up picking him up on Sat. morning and
we made dash up to the event.

After asking some seasoned SCA veterans who we needed to talk to, Ld.
Blackwolf was put in contact with the Kingdom Seneschal, Sir Rhodri.
That's the last I saw and heard from Blackwolf for the entire event, with
one exception....Court.

At Court that evening Ld. Blackwolf was called forward.  He threw down a
mailed gauntlet, issued the challenge, and the challenge was accepted.

From there it was up to the various Kingdoms Seneschals & etc. to work out
the specifics.

Adela


Subject: ANST - Past GW stories -- GW I
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 99 13:33:18 MST
From: Amy Forsyth <aforsyth@UH.EDU>
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

What do I remember about Gulf War I?

For one thing, of the Gulf Wars that I've been to, it's still my favorite.

The layout of the site was very different.

The broad, flat field where the merchants are located now was the melee
field.  Pavilions were set up along the back side of the field where the
road runs.   The Ansteorran encampment was in the area of the cabins ---
and it wasn't crowded by any means.  There were also a lot more woods
(which have now been cut out to make more camping space).

For the most part, the days were very hot and very dusty, and the nights
were cool and humid.

The one thing that everyone talks about from GW I is the woods battle and
how the woods won.  The woods battle took place behind the Ansteorran
encampment.... most of those woods have now been cut down.

I stayed up by the melee field during the battle.  We could occasionally
hear a clash of metal and some yells, but mostly everything at the melee
field was hot and still; simply a bunch of ladies having a conversation and
trying to stay cool.  After a good length of time we saw Duke Sigmund come
trotting up the road out of the Ansteorran encampment, coming from the
woods battle.  He trotted up to the Royal Pavilion, knelt, gave a brief
report to Her Majesty, and then got up and trotted off to the Royal
Encampment to report....

I went down to the woods to see what was going on and saw the first
fighters beginning to emerge from the woods.  Everyone that came out of
there was soaked through in sweat, overly hot, and tired.  Fighters were
coming out arm in arm, carrying each other as it were.  Some fighters had
stripped off their armor in the woods and were either carrying their armor
out, or had left the armor in the woods.  Some of the fighters still in
good condition were carrying both another fighter and that fighter's armor.
 Several fighters made trips back into the woods to rescue those that
couldn't make it out.  There was a line of waterbearers just inside the
edge of the woods checking on each of the fighters and trying to safely
rehydrate them.

[Hint for the future:  If you're ever in a situation like this, leave your
armor on and walk out if you can (even with assistance).  Armor on the body
is easier to carry than armor off the body.]

What I can't get over, to this day, is how fighters that were half the age
of Duke Sigmund were struggling to get out of the woods...... and yet he
trotted out of the woods and all the way over to the Royal Encampment, with
a detour by the Royal Pavilion.

Who else has Gulf War stories to tell?

Adela


Subject: Re: ANST - Past GW stories -- GW I
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 99 15:06:15 MST
From: Baronman@aol.com
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

>What I can't get over, to this day, is how fighters that were half the age
>of Duke Sigmund were struggling to get out of the woods...... and yet he
>trotted out of the woods and all the way over to the Royal Encampment, with
>a detour by the Royal Pavilion.

   I think you are refering to Gareth- Duke Sigmund's squire at the time. He
was wearing Duke Sigmunds armor for the woods battle.  Duke Sigmund was other
places doing official mucky muck stuff.  Gareth was camped next to my Baroness
and myself, and was reported as one of the first out of the disaster of the
woods battle.  He was instrumental in getting help and water bearers from all
over the encampments into the woods to render assistance.

    There were some serious problems from overheating that day.  Some of the
fighters physically could not walk out of the woods and were too exhausted to
yell for help.  I for one went into the woods with my spear, walked down a
ravine and up the gulley and then had to stop about 75 yards into the woods.I
could not stand to move any farther.   I helped get several others out and
pointed many others in the direction of the road wher water bearers and pickup
trucks were waiting to haul those unable to walk into the campsites.  To this
day, there are myths about people finding old rusted armor from where fighters
had dropped it in the woods and couldn't remember where they left it.  This
woods battle was possibly the most overheated I have ever been in my 15
years in the Society.

One who was there and did it.

Baron Bors


Subject: ANST - Re: Past GW stories -- GW I
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 99 15:43:08 MST
From: Amy Forsyth <aforsyth@UH.EDU>
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

>>What I can't get over, to this day, is how fighters that were half the age
>>of Duke Sigmund were struggling to get out of the woods...... and yet he
>>trotted out of the woods and all the way over to the Royal Encampment, with
>>a detour by the Royal Pavilion.
>
>   I think you are refering to Gareth- Duke Sigmund's squire at the time. He
>was wearing Duke Sigmunds armor for the woods battle.  Duke Sigmund was other
>places doing official mucky muck stuff.  Gareth was camped next to my Baroness
>and myself, and was reported as one of the first out of the disaster of the
>woods battle.  He was instrumental in getting help and water bearers from all
>over the encampments into the woods to render assistance.

>Baron Bors

Nope.... it was Sigmund....

I definitely remember this.  Sigmund's clothing, body-build, bearing, and
voice.....

I got to the woods just as the first fighters were emerging..... someone
was already yelling at the waterbearers to come and help (but telling them
not to go into the woods because there was still some fighting going on)
--- That was probably Gareth.

Christoforo was in the woods battle too.  I think he ended up making 3
trips back into the woods to bring individuals and their armor out.

Adela


Subject: Re: ANST - Past GW stories -- GW I
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 99 21:42:51 MST
From: Chris and Elisabeth Zakes <moondrgn@bga.com>
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

One of the nice things I remember about GW I was seeing Alfric Northwind
receive the first White Scarf of Trimaris. He'd been working hard to get
rapier fighting going in Trimaris, and had spent several months getting the
White Scarf Treaty approved and signed by the Ansteorran and Outlandish
Crowns. It was a pleasure to see all his work being rewarded.

And oh boy, do I remember that Woods "Battle". We marched into the woods,
encountered a small (maybe 5 or 6 fighters) group of Trimarians, wiped them
out and continued marching down the trail. Then we marched some more, and
some more. When we were about halfway to Alabama, and hadn't seen *anybody*
for over half an hour, the leaders of our group realized that something was
seriously wrong, and we turned around and marched back. Somewhere along the
way, we got mixed up so that *nobody* in our group knew which way to go to
get out of the woods.

As has already been mentioned, it was beastly hot and humid. To make
matters worse, the powers-that-be had decreed that it wasn't safe for the
waterbearers to go into the woods with the fighters, so we had been
marching around in that heat in full armor for something like 45 minutes at
that point with *no* water. I have *never* been that hot and dehydrated at
an event before or since (including several Barbarian Invitationals, and
the last three summer Queen's Champions, where the temperature was well
over 100).

I finally found someone who pointed me in the right direction to get out,
and once out, I just sat by the side of the road for another half hour
until I cooled off enough to get back to my tent. I remember the heralds
going through the camp asking everyone to make sure that no one in their
party was missing--there was a serious concern that fighters may have been
lost or collapsed in the woods.

Later reconstruction suggested that the fighting area in the woods had not
been very clearly marked, and my group had marched out of bounds shortly
after hitting the first group of Trimarians, and just kept going farther
and farther into no-man's-land.

That particular incident ranks well up in my "Top ten things I don't *ever*
want to do again in the SCA" list.

        -Tivar Moondragon
                Ansteorra


Subject: Re: ANST - GW Date Discussion Was (Sigh)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 99 12:43:42 MST
From: "Galen W. Bevel" <galenbv@ix.netcom.com>
To: ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG

Jackie wrote:
> You know...it seems as if there is a real concern for those of us who are
> educators.  There are many of us in the education field who play and we only
> seem to get to attend once every couple of years for this reason.  What was
> the original reason for changing the event from June to March...other than
> heat.  Is the site booked through the summer for other events?  Just
> wondering.
>
> Ulrica

A very wet, and disappointed Galen Kirchenbauer here, just back from the
rained out War.  Since I was Kingdom Seneschal when the decision to move
the war was made, I will try to explain why it was moved.  Most of you
remember the heat from the first Gulf War, and the number of prostrate
bodies removed from the woods after the woods battle.  The second war
was not much better, even without the woods battle. People, even those
not fighting, were just having too much trouble with the heat in June.
So the seneschal of Trimaris and I , along with our respective crowns
and those of Trimaris, got together and decided that we would look for
a better time for the War.  We wanted a time when people would still be
able to get off to attend, but when the weather would be more amenable.
We looked at three day weekends in the fall, decided that it would still
be too hot in September and too close to Pennsic as well, no good
weekends in October, and later than that approached the year end
Holidays too closely.  We finally decided that spring break would be the
best we could do, even though it did not fall on the same date for every
one.  We tried to find out which date would be the best for the greatest
number of people for the next war, chose that date, and tried it out.
Until this year, it has worked fairly well weather wise.  Although it
has occasionally been rainy or, more often, cold, overall the weather
for the spring Gulf Wars has been very good.

I am not sure how early they are setting dates for the War now, but my
suspiscion would be that by now the date for next year is already set,
or is being set at meetings today or tomorrow. If you can come up with a
time that the war can be held when everyone can attend, and when we
won't have to cart people off to the hospital for the heat, talk to Sir
Burke (the kingdom seneschal) and Baron Lucais (the current Gulf War
liason) and of course the crown.  It may be that even if we can't change
it for next year, we could for Gulf War X.
--
Galen W. or Rebecca Bevel

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	GW-history-msg	7